Plenty of new computers have already been paraded around the show floor with crystal clear displays and beefed-up processors.

We’ve had a scout around at some of the options you may want to consider if you’re planning to finally upgrade your own machine sometime in 2019.

Whether you value portability or power, here are five laptops that are worth taking a look at.

Alienware m17

The Alienware m17 (Image: Alienware)

Alienware is the gaming division of Dell and has been turning out eye-catchingly powerful laptops for years now.

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The Alienware m17 is the daddy of the line-up and has been upgraded with a new RTX 20-series laptop graphics card from Nvidia. Whilst these machines used to be big and clunky in previous years, they’re now as sleek and light as a 17-inch laptop can get. This one weighs in at 2.6kg and is 23mm thick.

There’s also support for up to 32GB of RAM and dual SSDs if you want them. Dell lets you customise your machine depending on price and preference before you plonk down the cash.

HP Spectre x360 15

The HP Spectre x360 15 has been fitted with an AMOLED screen for 2019 (Image: HP)

If you’re looking for something a little less imposing, then HP’s Spectre brand is one of the best out there. These sleek, silver machines boast some great industrial design as well as plenty of power.

For 2019, HP has furnished the 15-inch x360 with an AMOLED screen – the same kind you find on really expensive smartphones. For tech fans, that means it’s got a 100,000:1 contrast ratio and 33% more colours than sRGB as well as support for High Dynamic Range (HDR). If you’re not fussed about the technicals, just take it from us that movies will look great on this thing.

The drawback to that screen tech is that this is likely going to be very expensive when it arrives. HP is just showing it off at CES at the moment, but says it should launch in March 2019. So if you’ve got your eye on this we’d suggest you start saving.

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Asus ROG Mothership

The Mothership has landed (Image: Asus)

This isn’t strictly a laptop, but we decided to include it because it’s just so out there. In a nutshell, it’s a Microsoft Surface built for gamers.

That means it’s a 4.7kg slab of a tablet with lights and vents around the side and a kickstand on the back. It connects to a wireless keyboard which serves two purposes: it lets gamers position the keys for maximum tactical advantage and allows Asus to dissipate the heat from the tablet more effectively.

Like the Alienware, this boasts Nvidia’s RTX 2080 GPU as well as Intel’s top-of-the-line Core i9-8950HK processor. This beast won’t be for everyone, but then with a name like ‘Mothership’ what would you expect.

Acer Swift 7

The Acer Swift 7 is all about being thin and light (Image: Acer)

If a hulking gaming laptop is your idea of hell then Acer’s new Swift 7 could be the best alternative you’ll find this year.

The Swift 7 is 9.95mm thin and weighs just 890g with a screen-to-body ratio of 92%. It’s built using magnesium-lithium and magnesium-aluminum alloys which (Acer says) is tougher than regular aluminium whilst also being 35% lighter.

There’s 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD inside and the company says it’ll give you 10 hours of battery life. We don’t have UK pricing yet, but this’ll sell for 1,799 euros in Europe, so you can expect it to be £1,600/£1,700 when it launches here.

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LG Gram 17

The LG Gram’s touchscreen works well with the company’s interactive stylus (Image: LG)

If you want the big screen without the big weight, then LG’s updated LG Gram 17 is the one to go for. The company says it weighs just 1.3kg and will have a battery life of up to 19 hours.

It’s going on sale in the States this week after being shown off at CES. The US price is $1,700 which you may as well take to mean £1,700 when it arrives over here. That price gets you a 2,560 x 1,600 pixel touchscreen display, an Intel Core i7-8565U CPU. There’s also 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.